sort of important guysif you have a hand drawn comic tag it with "hand drawn" so other people can find itlike meI love hand drawn comicsArtwork II meets Artwork III! Where will the madness end?If you're reading this, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read my first steps into the vast and intimidating sea that is the comics subforum. I had an old studio comic using my own custom sprites in the works years ago but never got around to posting it. I lost the files when we bought a new computer. (It's just as well. It was pretty lame and didn't have a good concept to back it in the first place.) I have a soft spot for comics- I've lurked this forum for ages but never worked up the courage to start my own series. Now, five years later, I'm proud to reveal my work, born of a thousand false starts and notebooks full of tattered artwork, to the BZPower public. Please enjoy.

[Update schedule]-=--=-=--=-A two page spread like I've been doing takes around 2-3 days of storyboards, sketching, re-sketching, erasing, editing, adding dialogue, compiling and editing again, so updates will come as I have the time. If I'm lucky I'll be able to update on Fridays or Saturdays every week. (Most of my free time comes after 10 PM so I've been staying up past 1 for the past several days. My motivation will probably lapse after a while so I'll assume weekend updates just to be safe.)[Extras]-=--=-=--=-Early Concept:Working in the shopGuest comic for Bionicle Manga: They get along surprisingly well otherwiseRough draft for page 11: Sharp pointy thingsFiller Comic 1: Stalling for timeKakaru sprite sheetLuke sprite sheet

Not accepting additional characters at this time. Keep checking back if you're interested!Copypasta'd from update 3-17-2012: I am accepting guest stars. If you're interested, shoot me a PM with some simple information, as outlined below. Keep in mind that the process of incorporating you may take some time, as I do have a rough storyline to follow. You will be introduced and most likely play an important role, but It will take some thought and effort on my part. Thanks!

Member Name (or alias to be used):Basic Personality Type:Distinguishing features/accessories:Elemental Power:Role/Primary Occupation on BZPower:Interests/Frequented Forums:

This is a pencil-drawn comic based (loosely) on my experience as an employee in a banner shop in Artwork II several year ago. It was run by a member of the same name and we had three workers, one of whom decided to quit the site a couple years ago. For this reason, I'm using all characters in a fictitious manner, and their personalities may not reflect their corresponding members. Just keep that in mind and don't assume anything about the actual members until you actually talk to them. Thanks. Thanks to Ziko for fixing the BZPower Comics Wiki Entry on my comic. I wrote it myself, I just can't format the page to wiki standards to save my life. I was all "lame HTML coding!" and he's all "no, you didn't read the guidelines!' So yeah. Kudos to him for cleaning up my mess.

This is fantastic! First off, the art is spectacular. The characters all look amazing. Next, the subject matter: You're poking fun at your time in a banner shop. From the perspective that the forums are a real place where people hang out. Awesome. I especially loved the "[Word Filter!]" and "Did you just punch a hole through CoT?" lines, really drove the concept home and made me laugh! I eagerly await more!

Well wasn't that title misleading? I like your style of drawing, it is quite apealling. The fact that this is based on personal experiance is pretty cool. The way you presented the forums as a physical place is quite nice. I haven't seen that kinda thing in a while/ever.~Exon

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I would post saying only, "You're awesome," but I would get reported for spam, and rightfully so. Then I would have to delete my own post or maybe leave an edit telling myself to read the rules, which I wrote. You get the picture.

As you can see, I support the "put a windrider quote in your sig" movement. I do hope it catches on.

Argetlam had a banner shop? Huh, never knew that.Well, I think this is one of the better hand drawn comics with humans in it in this forum. The main complaint with them is the area under the chin when it's shown. It looks a bit weird.Keep up the good work.

This is fantastic! First off, the art is spectacular. The characters all look amazing. Next, the subject matter: You're poking fun at your time in a banner shop. From the perspective that the forums are a real place where people hang out. Awesome. I especially loved the "[Word Filter!]" and "Did you just punch a hole through CoT?" lines, really drove the concept home and made me laugh! I eagerly await more!

Thanks mate! I've tried for several years to get the characters right (Kakaru has been evolving for longer than I've been a member of this site) and I'm glad they work now!The word filter is almost exclusively the reason that I created BZPower as a real-life hangout. It always comes up as a joke whenever I'm with other BZPers so I needed a way to integrate it into the comic. I have to be careful not to overuse or bypass it, though.

Well wasn't that title misleading? I like your style of drawing, it is quite apealling. The fact that this is based on personal experiance is pretty cool. The way you presented the forums as a physical place is quite nice. I haven't seen that kinda thing in a while/ever.~Exon

Yes, I realized after I posted the topic that most people will assume I misplaced it. I suppose I've doomed myself to be ignored. XDAgain, thank you! I'm sure the idea has been done somewhere before, but I wanted to put my own spin on it.

Argetlam had a banner shop? Huh, never knew that.Well, I think this is one of the better hand drawn comics with humans in it in this forum. The main complaint with them is the area under the chin when it's shown. It looks a bit weird.Keep up the good work.

Indeed he did. We weren't really well known but we had our share of work. My time working there is one of my best memories of BZPower. Oh, and it's where I first met Velox.The chin looks weird to me as well. It's one of the areas in my art that I've really struggled to get right (along with elbows.) I guess I'll keep practicing. :|Thanks guys!

This comic just got even better. It's not just random bits here and there, you have a STORY too! A story always makes things better to a degree. One thing that I might change would be that when the hand was pointing to the door, it looked a little weird. It took me a sec to figure out what it was, but then I realized: it didn't have a fingernail. Adding that would improve the one minor flaw I found artistically.

In this latest page, I liked the perspectives you drew the characters from, such as the shot in the last panel. The chins are a minor issue again, but the big one here is body proportion. The necks are giant and the torsos are tiny compared to how they should be. The shoulders being longer would be a big help in solving that issue.

This comic just got even better. It's not just random bits here and there, you have a STORY too! A story always makes things better to a degree. One thing that I might change would be that when the hand was pointing to the door, it looked a little weird. It took me a sec to figure out what it was, but then I realized: it didn't have a fingernail. Adding that would improve the one minor flaw I found artistically.

Thank you! I intend to have an overarching plot but I haven't planned further than page five. I'm making it up as I go and I hope my continuity won't take a hit in the process.Gah, I just realized that. If you look closely you can see where I erased the fingernail before I retraced the entire panel. I just forgot to redraw it. x(

In this latest page, I liked the perspectives you drew the characters from, such as the shot in the last panel. The chins are a minor issue again, but the big one here is body proportion. The necks are giant and the torsos are tiny compared to how they should be. The shoulders being longer would be a big help in solving that issue.

I understand, thanks for pointing that out. The problem lies in how I sketch the figures first. The heads are intentionally that size to easily convey emotion on the face and the body is added almost as an afterthought. In that regard I do subconsciously make them smaller both because of percieved significance and to express their body language without cutting it off at the edges. I will definitely be trying to improve that. (I do catch myself on occasion, but it doesn't happen nearly enough.) Currently working on the next page. I'll have to go back and re-sketch it to fix proportions and such. Thanks again guys!

Heh, I'll have to keep up with this comic.I really like the part where Nathan points toward the door, and the way you did the edge of the panel where the door slammed. Well composed.One thing I'd recommend you work on is character individuality. Just so the characters are more easily distinguishable from one another. Mostly this applies to the Nathan8478 representation, his hair seems to be the same color as Velox's and the shape of it varies. Give him a hat something.Anyway, KUTGW.- 5555

Heh, I'll have to keep up with this comic.I really like the part where Nathan points toward the door, and the way you did the edge of the panel where the door slammed. Well composed.One thing I'd recommend you work on is character individuality. Just so the characters are more easily distinguishable from one another. Mostly this applies to the Nathan8478 representation, his hair seems to be the same color as Velox's and the shape of it varies. Give him a hat something.Anyway, KUTGW.- 5555

Thanks! I'm just going to copy-paste my reply from the PM here in case anyone else was curious.Nathan was supposed to have brown hair, Velox is supposed to have red. It's really hard to communicate that in black and white, so I settled on different hair (and face) styles. Nate's hair is supposed to be a bit like Vash's. His face is also skinnier and he has a long, thin nose and a goatee. Velox's hair is supposed to look a bit like it does in real life and I gave him the katanas and gloves to help differ him from the rest of the cast. At one point I did consider giving one of them a fedora but I realized that I can't draw hats to save my life and I've been practicing for four years.Anyways. I'll be looking for ways to help distinguish them in the future. Thanks!

A decent comic, I think the two looked a lot more proportional this time for the most part, with the exception being the third to last panel. Another issue was the tiny hand in comparison to the head.

Understood, thanks. I'm not too concerned with that panel in particular now, though I have been working on it.The tiny hand was such an elementary mistake. I can't believe I missed that. I'll try to be more attentive in the future.

Excellent work chap. The drawings look amazing and it has a very catchy plotish..thingy.

Thanks! =D Hopefully the plot will evolve into something more interesting in the future, but for now I'm content with establishing the characters and environment.Thank you for reading!

Good, hand-drawn comics. Not the prettiest, but you've got a great idea here.You've identified your characters, their traits and personality, and their strengths and weaknesses without a character sheet.Very well done, Kakaru.

I have to say, this is pretty cool. It's a breath of fresh air compared to all those sprite comics(most of which aren't really that good I might add). Are you cool with guest strips Kakaru because I'd like to do one of those for your comic.

Good, hand-drawn comics. Not the prettiest, but you've got a great idea here.You've identified your characters, their traits and personality, and their strengths and weaknesses without a character sheet.Very well done, Kakaru.

Thank you! Yeah, I understand that my art isn't the greatest and it never will be. In the meantime, I'm satisfied simply to be able to maintain my own comic.

I like the new comic quite a bit. You're getting better with the "under-chin" area, although the slight shading looks a little wierd. Pull it back a bit maybe?

Thanks! The under-the-chin area is...*looks closer*Gads, I feel like a moron for not catching that. You're absolutely right, the shadow is too long. Thank you!

I have to say, this is pretty cool. It's a breath of fresh air compared to all those sprite comics(most of which aren't really that good I might add). Are you cool with guest strips Kakaru because I'd like to do one of those for your comic.

Thank you! I started this series because I felt like Artwork III needed some different material.Absolutely! Just PM me the finished result before posting it. I'm sure nothing will be wrong with it, I'd just like to see it first. I'll be sure to return the favor as soon as I finish up the rough draft of page six, so you can take your time.

Ah man, these are awesome. That rahkshi jumping up was awesome. The drawing skills, pretty awesome.~RoOh, and I'm not responsible for the Rahkshi.......despite my name...and banner....this had better be a coincidence

Ah man, these are awesome. That rahkshi jumping up was awesome. The drawing skills, pretty awesome.~RoOh, and I'm not responsible for the Rahkshi.......despite my name...and banner....this had better be a coincidence

You're the one who did this! You nearly got us killed! D=Thanks! The Rahkshi has got to be my favorite bit in the entire chapter. I had too much fun with that panel in particular.

You're getting better, especially with the under-neck part.I like the variety of shots you've used, but I found the hand shots (the 'blah blah' and the slamming of paper down) to be... "professional shots". You focused on the important part and filled the panel with it. You've created establishing shots and close-ups to fit the need of the scene.Your work astounds me.Linking.

Just a few things: First and foremost I finished the first page of chapter seven, which has a guy in a fedora who may or may not be the proprietor of Shattered Mask Productions, which is an excellent shop by the way.

Over the past couple weeks I also made a guest comic for P962's Bionicle Manga, which involves Tahu and Pohatu playing a brief match of Koli Ball.I also finished my CC#1 entry, which is very ambiguous and open to interpretation, though everyone seems to agree that it involves snow and possibly a Bionicle character or two.

You're getting better, especially with the under-neck part.I like the variety of shots you've used, but I found the hand shots (the 'blah blah' and the slamming of paper down) to be... "professional shots". You focused on the important part and filled the panel with it. You've created establishing shots and close-ups to fit the need of the scene.Your work astounds me.Linking.

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I prefer to synchronize my replies with updates and this one took longer that expected. Thank you! I'm glad to hear I'm improving, and I'll be trying my best to live up to everyone's expectations.

Double posting still feels weird, even if I am well within the forum rules.Anyways, new comic:Page 8: Muaka don't cost that much anyways.I confess my standards slipped a little when I was retracing this one, but I was anxious to get it up even though I'm off my own deadline by five days. Long story short, I'm participating in the MocAthalon and had intended to take a break on Sunday to work on this comic. I had an awful migraine when I woke up and spent the rest of the day feeling miserable, so I didn't get anything done.The first half has been finished for a while, but since it was a condensed version of what had been drafted as two pages, I had trouble coming up with anything to add. I had several other drafts floating around but nothing was really working. Finally I gave up and decided to finish the best of them. I still don't really like how it came out, but whatever. Hopefully this will pick up speed with the next update. (Oh, and I'll probably be late this entire month, so screw the schedule. I'll put them up when I feel like it.)

New comic with a drastic change in direction. This one might take a bit to explain.Me and my sister were casually joking about the standard fare of sprite comics seen over the years in AIII as well as making fun of my own studio comic. We noticed the vast amount of attention that these seem to attract (I'm not jealous or anything, oh no), so I started drawing some stupid spoofs on the worst of these and my sister pointed out that, in order to get the feel for making mediocre sprite comics, I would need to actually do so instead of drawing each frame.So I spent all day drawing, tracing, editing, and compiling a custom sprite sheet just so I could make fun of myself with it. I understand that the better comics take more time to create even when using Chimoru, but there's nothing like drawing and colouring your own characters and backgrounds, then having to piece them together using substandard image-editing software. (Side note: Tilted does this, and does it better.) But I managed, and the results are as follows:Filler comic: Stalling for timeOnly my fillers will be created this way. Hopefully I won't have to do them that often. I'll revert to my normal style for the actual story, but right now the next page is still being drafted, so this will do. Thanks for understanding!Here I should point out a couple thing to avert any sorts of heated debate. I'm not calling out any comics in particular, and though I admit to being biased towards hand-drawn material, I have and still am making sprite comics and can appreciate the time and effort invested into each one, as well as the sense of personal pride and ownership attached. I don't want to assume that all sprite comics are lazy, copy-pasted pie jokes from their predecessors, nor do I want to assume that the authors aren't trying their very best to create quality comics for their audience.Yes, I'll admit that I'm a bit jealous of the size of followers they have, but I understand that there are many factors behind this, not the least of which is the inclusion of Guest Stars. Unfortunately I can't include those in my comics with the ease that others can, because I've been planning the current story arcs for months, and to give guests the time they deserve in the comic would require a sizable diversion from the plot, to the end effect that if I was relying on them to keep my comic fresh and interesting, I'd have no time to focus on the story itself.I'm not trying to belittle comics that do allow guest stars, I'm saying that I've noticed a trend in many, many series: Guests, unless given a lot of thought and margin to adjust events ahead of time, will only serve to drag the plot down and hinder the flexibility of the strip. To that end, if you'd really like to be a guest, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do to work you in sometime in a future arc. I can't do this instantly, but if you can help me think up some way to incorporate your character I'll do it at the best possible time.

New comic: Page 9: Anger management techniquesJust to clarify last week's update: I am accepting guest stars. If you're interested, shoot me a PM with some simple information, as outlined below. Keep in mind that the process of incorporating you may take some time, as I do have a rough storyline to follow. You will be introduced and most likely play an important role, but It will take some thought and effort on my part. Thanks!Member Name (or alias to be used):Basic Personality Type:Distinguishing features/acessories:Elemental Power:Role/Primary Occupation on BZPower:Interests/Frequented Forums:

I've been following this series for a while, and I have to say, I prefer it over many of the sprite comics around here. I love your art style, dude. It's somewhere between manga and American comics, and I think it's really neat-looking. I also gotta hand it to you for all the BZPower inside jokes and references to old fads and such you throw in. It almost seems like the storyline is just a means for you to use all these references, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, your humor is great anyway without them.Really, I find this to be one of the most entertaining (not to mention cool-looking) comics I've seen here. Great work, man. Keep it up! :]

Guh, sorry for the wait guys. The MocAthalon just ended three days ago and I've just been taking a break. Anyways, I figured I'd skip the double update and just post what I had since it's been so long. First off, new update:

Another sprite sheet for my satirical filler, which I give complete permission for anyone to use: LukeAnd a look at the rough draft sheets for the next page with dialogue omitted: Page 11: Sharp pointy things

I've been following this series for a while, and I have to say, I prefer it over many of the sprite comics around here. I love your art style, dude. It's somewhere between manga and American comics, and I think it's really neat-looking. I also gotta hand it to you for all the BZPower inside jokes and references to old fads and such you throw in. It almost seems like the storyline is just a means for you to use all these references, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, your humor is great anyway without them.Really, I find this to be one of the most entertaining (not to mention cool-looking) comics I've seen here. Great work, man. Keep it up! :]

Haha, yeah. My art originally started out as strongly anime-inspired and lately I've been drifting towards classic american style. I'm glad to hear the two mix well!And yeah, this series was originally a short six-page spoof of BZPower and all its quirks before I started taking it more seriously. Rest assured that there is a plot and overall continuity to the series, and it will become more serious when it needs to be.

I'm PM'ing you first chance I get Also, the rough draft for comic 11 made me think of Hunger Games the moment I saw the bow. ~Ro

That's actually really interesting. I ripped the NEW-U system from Borderlands specifically to keep the BZPRPG from becoming a Hunger Games-esque scenario right after my first guest star (who will remain unnamed until the next update) requested a bow as his primary weapon. On the bright side, it offered itself to become a much more useful storytelling tool, even if I had to scrap the drafts I had planned beforehand.Also, notice the carefully chosen acronym for DNA Etnity Reconstruction Posts.

Quick question for you guys: Do you prefer the style I'm currently drawing the comic in, or the way I created my CC#1 entry? I've been considering slowly merging my style to that of my entry since it's way easier to draw and doesn't require retracing each panel and dialogue bubble three times. I'd have no trouble meeting the weekly update schedule I set for myself and may even be able to post more frequently. This would ease up my schedule vastly as I need to prepare for college in four months and may have a job with long hours over the summer. If you guys prefer my original style I'll try to keep it that way, but I might have to update bi-weekly instead.In other news, I may have to take the week off again to prepare for my ACT. That and I'm drawing my character intro for Rahkshi Overlord's multi-author comic, Rift. The plot is still in it's early stages, but it's shaping up to be a really neat project. Not to mention he's letting me draw all my comics for it, which is pretty awesome. http://www.bzpower.c...tyle_emoticons/default/cool.png

I like the othr style, the one you used in the CC entry. Alot more gritty, but that gives it a suspenceful, mystery like look. And we're all looking forward for your first installment in Rift AND when the next comic comes out ~Ro

This is such a unique idea. I love it.After being in one of those crazy banner shops back in the day, I can totally relate with this. This is incredible. And I love your style of humour which seems to personify BZP. I always crack up when they mention a PM. That and "rawr I am a dinosaur".

Okay guys, sorry for the wait. Real life called and I reluctantly answered. To that I also overestimated my ability ot convert this comic to the faster, "grittier" version in one page and I ended up having to edit it way more than I though. The art changes, however, are slowly being incorporated and may be done within the next couple months. Some areas still bug me if I don't clean them up, so I'm going to have to settle for a mixed style for now. I know it's pretty messy, so please bear with me.

This next update I'm thinking about just finshing up with maybe a page and a decent animation. The fight sequence just set itself up to go way longer than was necessary and since I'm not that good at composing action sequences (or indeed, anything) I figured I'd at least make it interesting to watch in a highly-experimental way. Really, if we're all honest, badly-made action comics are among the most horrid reading material ever. If all goes well we should see some shiny fights between the two shops, ending in a big explosion or something. This fight just sort of came up so I'm not sure how to flow into the next bit I had planned. I may cut it altogether and jump to a further point since the BZPRPG is setup for a bigger event anyways.

This is such a unique idea. I love it.After being in one of those crazy banner shops back in the day, I can totally relate with this. This is incredible. And I love your style of humour which seems to personify BZP. I always crack up when they mention a PM. That and "rawr I am a dinosaur".

Thanks mate! I remember when nearly everyone visited the shops for banners. We must have had a half-dozen pages of requests in the few months we were in business! XD And thank you Ptolemic (Hyperion?) and Onarax for your feedback and willingness to guest-star! It's been a bit convoluted and messy, but it certainly helped pull me out of a rut in the story!

I really like how original this series is. The humor is great, and the art is spectacular. Nice job with it.Regarding the latest comic, I thought it was done quite well. It is a bit confusing though. I can't really tell what happened in the 11th panel. It looks like he jumped out of the barrage of arrows and threw his knife? I'm not sure, I didn't really understand it that well. Other then that it was really well done, nice work!~Soran

I really like how original this series is. The humor is great, and the art is spectacular. Nice job with it.Regarding the latest comic, I thought it was done quite well. It is a bit confusing though. I can't really tell what happened in the 11th panel. It looks like he jumped out of the barrage of arrows and threw his knife? I'm not sure, I didn't really understand it that well. Other then that it was really well done, nice work!~Soran

Yeahh, I'll readily admit that wasn't the greatest composed comic ever. It's why I'm a little wary of doing action shots often.At any rate, your guess was spot-on! I'm glad it communicated at least that much, even if you had to guess.Thanks!

I'll let this bit speak for itself. Hopefully I'll get some actual stuff up within the next week so I stop stalling with lame excuses.I'm being lazy:SponsorshipIn other news, I now have a good excuse. I'll be employed by Wal-Mart for the rest of the summer, at which point I'll transfer when I go to college. My new superpower is apathy.

Has it really be nearly two months? I'm horrid. My apologies to everyone blah blah apathy. Gog I do this every time and I still feel like I need to apologize for slacking off about updating even though I don't know of a single comic that actually sticks to an update schedule and some of them have been dormant for far longer than two months.Anyways, it took forever to finish up this chapter, but I finally just plugged my tablet in and threw together a couple of decent pages without my pencil sketches which I totally can't find anywhere. So weird.Nothing spectacular, but this is exactly how I wanted to get everything back on track.

Comic 13 was completely epic. I really like the fighting and the style of how it was drawn. The coloring and sound effects were also really awesome. Even if you just released only that comic I would've been happy right there. Comic 14 was interesting... I am wondering what exactly happened and what they broke this time (you guys are prone to breaking or destroying things ) Panel 6 made me laugh. Apparently now all the kills in the BZPRPG are now fatal... I wonder what exactly will happen to our hero's now and what kind of extremely dangerous situation will happen next...Awesome job on the comic and keep up the great work,~Soran